mercoledì 9 settembre 2009

interview with Kommissar Hjuler and Mama Baer

q)Please introduce yourself.

a)We are 42-year-old Kommissar Hjuler and 28-year-old Mama Baer, also known asKommissar Hjuler und Frau. My "name" normally is Papa Baer, but for my firstreleases I have taken the name Kommissar Hjuler and have hold it. We call erachother mama baer and papa baer (mama bear + papa bear), we both do not like ournames, therefor wanted to change our names into Papa Baer Hjuler and Mama BaerHjuler, but the community of Flensburg does not allow us to take names likepapa baer or mama baer. We are used to these names, most of the people aroundaccepted papa baer and mama baer as names, our two children Cy Hjuler (8) andFaust Adolf Hjuler (3) do only know us as papa baer and mama baer (!), this istrue.

q) Where do you live and work?

a)We live and work at Flensburg, the very north of Germany, directly at the border

to Denmark, but concerts and exhibitions have been at several places in Europe,also Africa, Australia, USA.

q) How would you describe your work to someone who has never seen it?

a)We started as musicians in 1999, no aim to make any art, simply weird music. I was a collector of any art of experimental music and in 1999 I came to a

certain point, that no music could please me, I was looking out to strangermusic. At that time I met Jan Iwers /No One and we made some recordingstogether, also a Double LP under group name TUULEN LAULU, mama baer gave hervoice to some tracks, but she was not really envolved. I soon started to makemy own music,with the aim, to make non-listenable sounds, not harmonic, noteasy to listen to, just to go one step further from what I was collecting.Mama BAer saw me working, wiothout big knowledge about experimental music, andjust started making music too. We made recordings together and recordings forus alone. And up to now we made more than 200 different recordings, mostglyreleased on our label in very small editions as handcut vinyl (acetate), tapeor CD-R. I often made very intersting covers and a curator of a museum becameaware of my cover art and has chosen us for his exhibition on theme vinyl, thenthe museum made a LP by us for the exhibition, and our covers were shown sideto side with Warhol and Beuys. Today a lot of our small releases has becoereissued as CD or LP in larger editions, on 16th September the Label Psych.KGstarts a series of split-LPs by us, and every 40 days shall appear the next LPin this series, we present one side for each LP, also the cover art, and nowhave fixed the first 17 partners for this series, now enduring until 2012,every 40 days the next LP, such a contract has never been seen before, only thePsychick TV series of live recordings for one year, but I guess, thisSplit-LP-series will endure and will not stop with no. 17. We have enough musicto let it go ten years. And a lot of LPs appear beside this series, a LP onmale bonding is just available, a split with Dissecting TAble is available, aLP with Asmus Tietchens is in preparation for 2010, a Lp at Nihilist Rec. is inpreparation for beginning of November 2009, and three or four LPs on FeedingTube Rec. are in preparation, the first one will be available this month.

q) How did you start in the arts? How/when did you realize you were an artist?

a)We made cover art and mama baer started painting, just for she did not like the

idea of having painting by other people in our flat, my cover art has becomemore and more sculpture or assemblage and at a certain point, there was n olonger music involved, it was only art, no longer cover for releases, mama baerrealized her talent in painting and got help from some painters to develop herstyle. In 2008 a big german art magazinbe became aware of us and published aninterview, also was recommending our art to their audience. We have had ourfirst exhibitions at that time, some exhibitions followed, and today we havebeen playing live at places like Mary Bauermeister, the wife of KarlkheinzStockhausen, a wellknow artist, friend of Jean Tinguely, Nikki de St. Phalle,Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Christo, ..., a place where John Cage, DavidTudor and Nam June Paik have played before. Or we will play at BrightonFestival Colour out of Space in November, one of the biggest festivals forexperimental music in the world.

q) What are your favorite art materials and why?

a)I work with living material like bred, very famous are my bred cats, an alter

ego for mankind with their own religion, rituals, society, wars (fightingagainst cunt cat), ..., also use a lot of found objects and used condoms, forobjects are a part of me then , by half my children. Moreover I use wood anddestroyed puppets.Mama Baer uses chalk and acryl on paper or canvas mostly

q) What/who influences you most?

a)There are a lot of artists we both like, but the influence was more by their

work we did not really like, we wanted to create "better" work, as in themusic, I wanted to make more experimental music as the music I knew, and I mademore experimental music, I am supposed, same for art, I like Hans Bellmer, buthis puppets do look to much like a puppet to me, I wanted to make more surrealpuppets, I like Dieter Roth, Edward Kienholz, Jonathan Meese, Adolf Wölfli, CyTwombly but they were not weird enough to me, I wanted to make a crank version,to go any further. People often state, that I am too pornografic, well, I hope,I am, this is a step further, they all try to touch these themes smooth enoughnot to discredit themselves, I think pornography is part of life and can bepart of art. And I am not the first one thinking this way.

q) Describe a typical day of art making for you.

a)We make art the complete day, we have two little children, were living at the

outskirts of Flensburg, in a small house, a strange house for the neighbours,for there are objects around, the house is painted in green, very green,anyway, we love it. I work as police officer, early/late/night-shifts, my wifedoes not work. And we spent every free minute for art, painting, buildingobjects and/or making music.

q) Do you have goals, specific things you want to achieve with your art or in your career as an artist?

a)We are non studied artists and we want to become accepted by artists council one

day, to become member of the artists society of our country, this has beenpossible for other non-studied artists before, and I hope we both can achieveit one day.

q) What contemporary artists or developments in art interest you?

a)Fluxus, dada, Art Brut. Joseph beuys is one of my favourite artists, he is the

only artist, who made a work, I could not make better, if I see - for instance-a performance by Paul McCarthy, I state, that the same performance would bemore intense and much weirder, if I would have done it, but Beuys was perfect,I could not be better.

q) How long does it typically take you to finish a piece?

a)From ten minutes to five months, it is very different, and I have some objects

or music in mind for months, that I did not start the work on by now, a shortfilm on a sausager, that get bound, tortured and cooked (cook=Kochen : BTK), ora puppet bearing a piece of chocolate, ...

q) Do you enjoy selling your pieces, or are you emotionally attached to them?

a)I like the idea of having all my work around me, we would prefer,. not to sell

anything, but we are to, oitherwise galleries would not be interested into us,anyway, everything is for sale, allthough we do not like the idea, most of mywork are my children, all our works is surrounding us in our house all day,pour house looks like a giant museum of dada/art brut. But selling things givesus opportunity to create new things.

q) Is music important to you? If so, what are some things you're listening to now?

a)I own one of the biggest collections of experimental music (20th century, text

sound, industrial, free jazz, improvisation, musical theatre, abstractelectronics, musique conrete, collage, ...), but I do no longer listen to allthis music, I am nearly only listening to my own music today, therefor I madeit, the music of my collection just marks a point in my own development, thecollection is what was before, the start of Kommissar Hjuler and mama baer.This does not mean, that I do not listen to some music, I still like music likeKagel, Hespos, Nurse With Wound, Cureent 93, Ghedalie Tazartes, but today Iknow most of these musicians and they all lost their "flair". my firstexperimental music ever was by Lt. Caramel, when I was 16 or 17 years old, Iwas at hamburg, found four experimental LPs by Nurse With Wound, Etant Donnes,Ultra and Lt. Caramel. Today I know Ultra and Steven Stapleton, have workedtogether with Lt. Caramel, the flair of these untouchable colectable items isgone. And my music goes any further.

q) Books?

a)I am a big fan of poems by Georg Trakl and Walter von der Vogelweide, made some

recordngs, also of some dada poems, like Hugo Ball, and I love absurde and veryabstract stories, like Kafka.

q) What theories or beliefs do you have regarding creativity or the creative process?

a)We live creativity, I have been creative my whole life, but not with a certain

focus, and I have leárned by now how to use this creativity.

q) What do you do (or what do you enjoy doing) when you're not creating?

a)It is only few time, that I am not creating, some time spending with the

children at a forrest muist turn out into collecting wood for the next work,and each new sound I listen to expects me to make music. In a way, I am notnon-creative.

q) Do you have any projects or shows coming up that you are particularly excited about?

a)Me and my wife work that much, that we are no longer interested into anything

else, we simply do not find the time, all free time is spent into our owndevelopment, to become better and better each day. When we find time to visitan exhibition, for instance, we nearly run through the rooms, catching viewsand feelings, and mostly we do not like, what we see, simply become aware, ofwhat could have been better.

q) Do you follow contemporary art scenes? If so, how? What websites, magazines, galleries do you prefer?

a)We do not have the time, as mentioned, to think a lot about hte art and music of

other artists, we simply try not to copy, just to create new art by having seeninfluencable art.

q) Ask yourself a question you'd like to answer, and answer it.

a)Why should I run around with questions I need to answere, I am trying to give

questions with my work, no answers given, just questions, Brotkatze has noansweres, Votzekatze can be the aggressor in the war, but also Brotkatze can bethe aggressor, it is up to the audience.

q) Any advice for aspiring artists?

a)I am happy about any advices, I am only working as an artist for three years

now, so why should I give advices, I am at the very point of strating myartists career. I am in need of help and love by others.